Sweden to ease work norms for Indian geeks

Economic Times of India ^ | April 5, 2003

[sarcasm]

Sweden has said it will support a proposal in the next round of GATT negotiations to increase the work permit period for professionals like Indian software experts from three to six months in the EU states and the US.

This move gains significance in light of the recent problems over visa regulations faced by Indian techies in Europe. Swedish minister for trade and industry Leif Pagrotsky told mediapersons in Bangalore that India should participate in efforts to have common set of business rules to cut red tapism and boost trade and commerce using IT as the tool.

Mr Pagrotsky agreed with the Indian government's view that the visa related issues were basically non-tariff barriers to check free movement of services.

He said a broadbased multilateral agreement on movement of such professionals will help all countries since these skill sets are in short supply. But he mentioned that there are fears of job loss in many of these countries.

The minister admitted that Europe is a rather closed place and it is difficult to get visas similar to the problem faced with Japan or the US.

He said while the Indian commerce minister Arun Jaitley felt that enough is being done to cut down the bureaucracy surrounding the country's trade regime, Mr Pagrotsky said more can be done to speed up the process of facilitation in consultation with other countries especially as India has much to gain from it. Technology can significantly accelerate this exercise, he added.

The minister added that reforms in India have started to deliver. The predictability of rules and the government's efforts to boost economic development are clearly attractive elements for investors, he said.

Earlier in the day, the Swedish delegation participated in a seminar on urban environment and city planning where some viable technical solutions developed by Swedish institutions and companies were discussed.

[The_Republican]

...and that burns you because___________________.

[sarcasm]

It's part of the Indian movement to have immigration policies of the United States and Europe dictated by the WTO.

[rimmont]

This points up the idiocy of many of these European "Social Democracies." They have failed so miserably at making the right decisions on how their workforces are trained that they now have double digit unemployment and still have to import labor.

[Arkle]

This was worth posting just for its fantastic title.

[sarcasm]

ping

[sarcasm]

Answer here

[ALS]